The sights and delights of France

April 18, 2017

Time in Bordeaux France 11:11 AM

Several weeks before this trip began, I actually had pre-planned on using the first three days as a jet-lag recovery period. I’m very glad that I am letting this trip evolve without a lot of structure as I was able to give myself the additional time I needed. Traveling east in my opinion is much harder on my body, and this trip took me 9 time zones ahead of California. The complications are: you are tired when you should be awake and wide awake when you should be sleeping. Also my gastrointestinal system is still in flux, I used to “GO” in the morning and these days its always occurring at night time.

Currently I feel great with lots of energy and I’m enjoying walking many miles every day. I am finally staying in a place here in Bordeaux (at least for the next four days) that has a full kitchen and there is a grocery store about 100 meters from my front door. If you are someone that eats anything, you could gain more weight here in France then being on a cruise ship. But for me (Mr. Vegan) it is a workout searching online, walking to the select few places available and sometimes finding an empty space because they have gone out of business.

This happened to me two days ago, I walked to three places listed in Happy Cow (the vegan/vegetarian restaurant online guide) before I found one open. When I reached the first place and found an empty storefront I immediately went into frustration mode and pulled out my phone to start looking for my next choice. What I didn’t tell you yet was, it was about 1:45 PM and I had not had breakfast, and I was really hungry… When I opened my phone I luckily had a reminder on the screen, reminding me to read the Buddhist 5 mindfulness trainings, which gave me a moment to look at my situation differently, and I shifted my thinking from frustration to allowing what is. This alone lowered my blood pressure. I decided to listen to a talk by Thích Nhât Hanh while I continued walking. If you don’t know who Thích Nhât Hanh is, you can click on his name and Oprah Winfrey will introduce you to him. As I walked to the second restaurant (which was closed) I was now happily walking in Paris France, experiencing new sights and sounds and no longer frustrated. I just chose my current situation just as it was, so simple, but I so often forget I have a choice. The third restaurant I found named “Oatmeal|Paris” was wonderful. I wrote the following TripAdvisor review for this place.

OATMEAL | PARIS

This vegan restaurant which serves something that I have only now enjoyed once in my life. Vegan Savory Oatmeal. The bowl of food I received was delicious. The restaurant atmosphere is bright and lively and the person running the place was friendly and happy to help me in english.

OK, since I have already headed in the direction of food, I will also tell you that I had the best Indian food ever, 3 nights ago at the Royal Bombay restaurant in Paris. I added my TripAdvisor link to the restaurant name above where you can see my review and my photos.

My first 3 nights in Paris at the MIJE Hostel:

I had used the HostelWorld site to make this selection. The name of the place is MIJE Fauconnier and the HostelWorld writeup is hyperlinked (here). I came to find out that this place has a contract with a tour company the leads young teenagers on tours. In my opinion it is not a travelers hostel. The beds were about 3 or 4 inches to short for me (with wood headboard & footboards) and terrible mattresses, and they had the strangest and worst pillows I’ve ever seen. The tables in the only common area, must have been designed with children in mind as I could not fit my legs under any of the tables. The people at the front desk were great, the place was spotlessly clean, and the location was great. Just not a good fit for me (literally speaking).

My next accommodations had the most comfortable bed with 4 pillows and an actual adult eating area that my body fit into, it made all the difference.

Photos with short captions.

Paris

Paris – Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris – The construction of this building began in 1163 and was completed in 1345

Paris – People waiting to enter the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris

Paris – Me standing in front of the Panthéon which was built from 1758 till 1790.

Paris – Panthéon

Paris – Beautiful doors like this are everywhere. When someone is pulling their cars into the building, they open the 2 big doors, but if they are just walking into their building they use the smaller inner door.

Paris – Self-Cleaning Toilet on a street corner. I’ve never seen one of these in the US.

This is a French mailbox. On the far right you see the word Etranger which translates to Foreign and Banlieue is Suburbs.

Bordeaux

My Current Location in Bordeaux. (The blue ball) which is directly next to Port Cailhau.

Porte Cailhau Built in 1495, this monument with a castle-like exterior was once the main gate to the city of Bordeaux.

This is the view I look at from the room I’m staying at here in Bordeaux. Porte Cailhau Built in 1495, this monument with a castle-like exterior was once the main gate to the city of Bordeaux

Porte Dijeaux – Historic city gate of Bordeaux, built during the mid-1700s in the Neoclassical style.

Monument aux Girondins Bordeaux – Built in 1894

Chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate

I think this is a long enough post for today.

I have 3 more days to enjoy Bordeaux and take in the sights before I leave for Plum Village Monastery. During my 14 days at the monastery beginning on April 21 I will likely refrain from using my electronic devices, but I will check in and let everyone on Facebook know that I arrived ok, and I’ll create another post as soon as I leave Plum Village on May 6.

All my love

Allan

This is the location of Plum Village Monastery in relationship to Bordeaux.